One, two, BUCKLE my shoe

SO . . . . . Some amazing ladies in the county put together a local gymkhana for the rodeo game enthusiastics around the county. For those of you who are wondering, the definition of gymkhana is: a meet at which riders and horses display a range of skills and aptitudes. BJ and the kids all participated.

There were three meets, and the final meet was this past Saturday. (I wondered about a horse meet in November, but the weather was BEAUTIFUL!!!)

During the first meet, Brittany took 4th place.

The second and third meet, Brooklyn placed. BJ took 2nd in the last meet. (I was not very diligent in getting pictures of him. OoopS!!)

Jensen didn't place in any of the meets, but if you ask him, he doesn't care, because he was training FLOYD. (Floyd is BJ's 5 year old horse that Jensen has recently placed claim on.)

Preston and his kids participated as well, and Preston pretty much ran the show because he did SO well.

My family all did great . . .and had a lot of fun. (Unless you count the five minutes Brittany was upset each meet when she didn't do as well as she wanted to.) I was SUPER proud of them.

I was really excited to actually be home on a Saturday, and get some work done, but ended up spending pretty much the whole day watching the gymkhana. It was totally worth the filthy house I went home to!!

At the end, everyone who participated in all three meets received prizes. Brittany and Jensen picked cute saddle bags, and BJ got a halter/lead rope. Brooklyn, however, got something a little more pricey!! She was the Junior High Point Winner!! She received a belt buckle for her achievement. She promptly changed out her grand champion hog buckle for her new buckle.

Big shout out to Shauna Shumway and Wendy Benson, and all those involved in having such great prizes donated for these kids!!

BIGGER SHOUT OUT to my awesome family!! Way to go guys!!!

Frankenstein or a Mummy?

For Halloween, I told Jensen he should be either be

FRANKENSTEIN'S MONSTER OR A MUMMY

I would think that with stitches and a bunch of white gauze, both options would be great. Jensen didn't think so. I also would have thought that an accident invovling sharp instruments during the week of halloween would have taken place while we were carving pumpkins, but no, not at our house!!!

Thursday night I was at a R.S. activity and got a call from a VERY sad child. Through the crying, I heard the words, "running", "Didn't know", "open" and "CUT REALLY BAD!!!!" I knew it was Jensen, so I hung up immediately and headed home. On the way home I called Brooklyn to see how bad the cut was, and she didn't even know about it. When I pulled into the driveway, Jensen was on the porch, crying. I took him in the house, thinking it couldn't really be that bad. He had a wet washcloth on his left hand. I lifted the washcloth up, and between the spurts and gushing of blood, I could tell we were going to need some stitches. I asked the girls to please pick up the house and get to bed (It was 8:50 mind you). I told them I would be home soon. I called BJ on the way to the emergency room and let him know what was going on. (This was the third day that I had spent hours in the clinic by the way . . . . getting a little bit tired of that place.)

A quick assessment by the ER tech, and we knew we needed stitches. The doctor did a great job. Jensen was even greater. He didn't cry when they cleaned it out, gave him numbing shots, or put in the stitches. For a seven year old, I think he is pretty DANG tough!! I kept joking with him though, hoping to make time go a little faster, or keep him side-tracked. After the doctor started putting in the stitches, I told Jensen he could be Frankenstein's Monster for Halloween instead of a bear. (Did I mention he was wearing his costume when the accident happened, and thus, in the ER room too . . .kind of special.) Once they got the gauze on his hand, I asked him if we should just take a little bit extra gauze home and he could be a mummy. He didn't find my humor very funny.

So, six stitches later, we headed home. I was spent. Done For. Finished. Exhausted. Mentally KaPut. and knew I would be heading into a disaster area when I walked in the door. But to my surprise, Brooklyn saved me!!

I walked in to a clean front room, dining room, computer area, and clean kitchen. All of these rooms had been a WRECK when I left. Bless her little heart! (Yes, I am getting tears in my eyes just writing this.) What a great girl! She could tell I was stressed out (in my defense, it had been a long, crazy, sick child, busy work week). She had stayed up late to clean everything for me!! How did she know how much that would mean to me??

I never did get the full story from Jensen . . .. I am pretty sure it involved RUNNING with scissors, he claims he has something to do with CRAWLING with scissors. Hmmmmm..........

Jacks

We carved our pumpkins last Wed. night. (One would think that is where a child would get hurt with a sharp instrument . . .but no . . . . .). The kids really did this all on their own. I think this is the first year I haven't had to help. None of the them wanted to make "spooky" designs, they all wanted to make their own faces up. I think they did great!!!!!

Brooklyn got hers done and helped everyone else with theirs, including helping me make a big pumpkin eating a smaller pumpkin.

Brittany had some interesting carving techniques, including using a headlamp and her feeet. Not sure what the goal of using these techniques was, but her pumpkin was great . . . .must have been from the carving tricks.

Jensen was as independent as ever and didn't want any help with his pumpkin. He was a hoot, I couldn't believe the concentration this kid has!!

Mighty Hunter??

BJ took Jensen hunting with him this year, and they got a deer opening morning. I guess they saw a really big deer, but it was pretty far away. When they saw this deer, BJ asked Jensen if he should shoot it or wait and see if they could get a bigger one. Jensen was pumped just to be hunting, so of course, he wanted BJ to get one QUICK! SO, he told BJ to shoot this one. Jensen had TONS of fun!!! I hope BJ doesn't care if I post this HUGE MONSTER on here for everyone to see.

And . . . ACTION

About a month ago, Preston got a call from a friend who works with the county tourism board. There was a company coming to shoot a commercial and needed 50 head of horses. She directed the company to JM Grover Enterprises, saying that we were probably the only people around who could round up that many horses.

Preston worked hard to figure out a contract and get everything set up for the commercial. We took 57 horses in all. 44 were ours, and the rest of the horses were brought by Ivins'. Preston made all the arragements to get things rolling and he spent all day Friday at the lcoation, figuring everything out.

BJ spent the day gathering up all the horses. It pretty much took all night, since we had to gather horses from SEVERAL different locations. At 9:30 that night we loaded two trailers from the last pasture and I think by the time we pulled in and unloaded them it was well past 10. Then they cowboys spent a good two hours figuring out the logistics of getting 57 horses to the location, and keeping them at the location once we got there.

I am pretty sure Preston didn't get any sleep, because they started loading horses at 3:30. I think we pulled out of town at 4:30 to make the drive to Monument Valley.

When we got to the location, it was stilll dark. They unloaded the horses, and made a temporary pen out of a ledge and the trucks/trailers. It took 7 trucks/trailers to get all the horses down there, but they came in handy to pen the horses in.

Ater a minute the horses weren't loving their "pen". A few climbed the bank, but the riders got them back in. This horse got out just as the sun was starting to peak up.

This one is of BJ "standing guard" until the commercial crew was ready to start rolling. The sun still wasn't up yet, but it sure made for a nice backdrop.

But holy cow - when the sun DID come up . . . .well . . . .see for yourself.

This one is of Erik. They had taken the horses down to the "shoot" and were keeping the horses rounded up until they were told to run them. I can see why they wanted to start shooting at 7:20. It was gorgeous.

Getting ready for the first run.

Can you say "DUSTY"

After a few runs, the horses needed a break. Crazy the difference in the light when you are looking right at the sunrise.

Crew member double-checking lighting and settings. The crew was SUPER nice, and let us ask lots of questions.

Going for another run.

The horses and riders weren't the only ones that had to get geared up for each shot.

Some of the crew members thought some of the horses would like a treat. They cut up a bunch of apples and brought them over to feed to the horses.

Take TWO

I have to admit, I was fascinated by the equipment and technology. Especially the dolly camera that moved automatically along a pre-set track. If only it had the ability to ascertain how fast/slow the horses would be going. One of the biggest problems was for them to match the speed of the dolley with the speed of the horses because the horses ran at a different speed each time.

The horse were getting SOOOOO tired! They were running through about six inches of sand . . they were pooped. I am pretty sure ALL of the horses (and some of the riders) felt like this . . . .

After a much needed rest, they started back up. Just a couple more times . . . . .

Finally they had enough shots of the horse herd. After those horses were put away, they wanted to do some shots with just the cowboys. The cowboys would run the shot. . .again, and again, and again.

The horses were getting so hot and sweaty . . . sad for the horses, but it sure made the sun hit their coat just right!! Love the shine! (and the picture, and the horse, and . . .of course, the cowboy.)

Getting more instructions for what would be the last two shots, from the director, Eric.

The riders waiting to hear their cue "GO PRESTON GO"!! I think at this point, the riders were getting a little sick of hearing those words!

Taking off - hopefully for the last run of the day.

Waiting to see if the last "take" was good enough . After a playback, we heard the famous line "THAT'S A WRAP!", along with a lot of applause, and several "BRILLIANT!" comments! (LOVED their British accents).

I don't know if the crew was tired of us "spectators" taking pictures, but I was a total dork and asked one of the main guys if we could get pictures with the cameras and crew after the shooting was all done. They were very cordial!! (Of course my picture turned out HORRIBLE . . .dang)

While I was more interested in getting a picture with the cameras and equipment (I thought it was cool . . . .). The commercial crew was more interested in having a picture with some scenery. Imagine that.

I know the cowboys were tired of us taking pictures, but they were nice enough to let us take a shot of just them. FYI - Shawn, Tyler, BJ, Erik, Justin, David, Preston

Then some of the crew took a turn riding! Esther (in pink) and Sharon had fun. Sharon told us she used to ride when she was younger, "But not like you guys do . . . .I rode with a helmet, knickers, and proper boots. We wouldn't have dreamed of twirling a lariet."

The crew was super nice and let us watch the clips in 3D . . .(the company has 3d channels in their programming, so the commercial also had to be filmed in 3D). The technology was CRAZY!! The kids enjoyed watching it. Love the glasses!!
















We ate lunch and visited with the crew. The food was delicious . . . .ribs and steak. Yummy!

Then we loaded up and headed home. What a day!

Commercial Shoot

So . . . .thanks to Preston, and BSkyB, our cowboys will be featured in a commercial in England in Janaury. We spent the day in Monument Valley while the guys and 50 head of ours and Ivins' horses were filmed. The experience was once-in-a-lifetime. The people were great, and the scenery was BEAUTIFUL!!! Here is preview of some of the adventure. I will post more later. They let us take our own pictures of the event. Here are my favorite un-edited shots (although they dont' really show the action.)